Authors note:  At this point I am really eight months in …  the procrastinating blogger strikes again …   

I laid my walking shoes to rest once I reached Perth, Australia.  Well, ok, technically I gleefully threw them into a dumpster. They had reached a point of no return – for several reasons.  They had tramped through 27 countries in six months – being worn nearly every day – occasionally swapped out for my more elegant, slightly classier tennies, when I needed to feel more with it (at least from a fashion perspective).  And of course once I reached the hot climates I did wear the Obeo sandals (think Teva) and flip-flops – but those are not as kind for hitting the turf with over 10,000 steps per day (hello Athens – thank-you for the heinous blisters).  No, these shoes and I – much like this trip and I, have had our ups and downs.

Initially the shoes and I were on great terms – they were thickly padded and had indestructible Vibram soles.  They worked great in Iceland and Norway and the rest of the Nordics – but started to turn on me in Russia.  My shoes and I loved exploring the Nordics where everything is pristine and looks like a postcard – and I had near perfect weather the entire time – such luck!  But those shoes started to get worn in and stretched out, and my right Achilles tendon seemed to be aggravated, hmmmm.  This coincided with the first downturn in the trip (sorry St. Petersburg!) Russia.  Our not so friendly cold war adversary is not so easy a country to navigate through.  Nobody speaks English (and why should they, right?).

The weather started to get a bit dicey with colder temps, overcast skies and rain.  Oh Moscow, the rain … and with the rain came the arch pain in one of my feet (can’t even remember which one now… wow).  The searing, crippling, arch pain that had sort of been creeping up on me for awhile.  Appropriate that it happened in Moscow – like it KNEW this was a former enemy country.  I did explore the Kremlin but after some crazy 20,000 plus step day – my foot was d-o-n-e.  No walking, no how.  Problematic as that was really my only transportation option.  I spent the evening and part of the next day NOT walking.  Did not entirely help.  In any case, I had to move forward – so onwards we went limping off to the airport and Germany.

First solution – some kind of arch support insoles – found in a Berlin drugstore.  The Germans, always good purveyors of smart technology!  Yea!  That did help – and actually felt better all the way around.  I concluded that at 60 days the inside of the shoes may have been getting a bit worn out; which may have caused the arch problem…    I reevaluated cramming so much sightseeing and walking into one day (was routinely going over 20,000 steps or so – according to Fitbit).  Perhaps less is more – certainly while allowing this odd foot injury to heal (no pun intended).

We trudged on through Berlin and Munich – the shoes went to Oktoberfest – my drinking prowess did not.  Is it really a good idea to drink more than one lager beer that comes in a glass stein larger than your head?  No.  It is not.  From Berlin into Austria where it became downright chilly and and there was more rain.  The shoes did pretty well holding their own against the onslaught of wet cobblestones.  Into Eastern Europe we went – Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Poland.  Slovakia is pretty damn cool, by the way.  I went to Bratislava and took one of my favorite tours – the Post Socialist tour, driven around in a Skoda car to old government sites and factories – including the border between Slovakia and Austria – a different kind of tour!

Anyhoo, it was in Poland that the shoes and I had another parting of the ways – because in Poland the infamous squeak began.  What it was I never could figure out – but my right shoe had a horrible squeak which happened with every step that I took.  Yessss….  Now I’m making my way through the world with a noisy sneaker – really quite noticeable depending on the type of flooring or pavement I was walking on.  Museums in particular could be rather embarrassing as I not so quietly would move around.  Step, crrrr-ack, step, crrrr-ack.  The squeak was kind of like a crack sound – startling to some (I’m so cool).  I REALLY did not like the squeak but thought I should put up with it because the shoes were in pretty good shape …

I continued to squeak my way through a few more countries – Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece …  It was November now and the further south I went the more fabulous the weather became.  Oh the joy – because I froze my ass off in Poland. But yes, do visit Poland!  I loved Warsaw (especially the renovated Warsaw Castle) and I loved Krakow – maybe Krakow a little bit more than Warsaw which has the dubious honor of being quite literally flattened during WWII.  Don’t go in November – unless you like being cold and rained on.  After Krawkow the shoes and I squeaked on through Budapest – another lovely city on the Danube with a towering castle on the Buda hill above the city.

The Dalmatian coast saw me and the shoes walk the entire circumference of Dubrovnik, and up the mountain of St. John in Kotor to view the Bay of Kotor from the old Venetian fortifications (in ruins – they should spend some time working on the area, in my humble opinion).  I still could not identify the reason for the shoe sole to be making this odd cracking sound… oh the frustration!  Greece saw a departure from the squeaky shoes.  It was so warm there that yours truly got cocky and wore the Obeos to tramp for thousands of steps up to the Acropolis and all around it, even over to the Ancient Agora and Hadrian’s Library.  Long day and the Obeos destroyed my feet.  I hated those shoes for a long time.  Who am I kidding, I still hate those shoes.  They are just too wide for my long, narrow, boat-sized feet.  Not only that, they seem to retain all kinds of grit and grime – so I feel like I’m stepping into a dirty street every time I put them on.  EWWW.  To this day I rarely wear the Obeos – probably should let them go – but they are tolerable for short distances and in the hotter regions that is necessary!

Next the shoes led me into the Dark Continent – Africa!  Exploring Tunisia, Egypt (need to do an entire post for Egypt – highly recommend it!), and on to safaris in Namibia and Botswana.  In Namibia we encountered extreme heat for the first time and fine red sand – which covered everything, including my loud shoes.  The shoes helped me make it up the Big Daddy dune in Sossusvlei (before being overcome by the heat in the Deadvlei).  In Botswana they were soaked through by torrential rains and slogged through muddy terrain.  I contemplated dumping the shoes after Botswana – because I thought they smelled a bit like a musty jungle – but again decided to hold on to them as I was in Cape Town and it was warm and dry and the sun could bake out all the impurities retained in the shoes!  Certainly those Vibram soles were in great shape – but the insides were kind of questionable.  Cape Town was like applying skin balm that makes you feel soft and fuzzy.  I so enjoyed Cape Town which has perfect weather and a string of beautiful beaches along the coast.  The perfect place to enjoy Christmas!

For New Years it was on to Dubai and the UAE.  Perhaps my least favorite place that I have been to.  It just did not have a lot of flavor – it was like a tame Las Vegas and extremely expensive.  If I only wanted to shop and dine and stay in a fancy-pants hotel, maybe it would have been more fun.  But that is not really the goal on this trip – which is more about seeing cities and countries and learning about their history and their people and just exploring the natural beauty that is our planet.  Whether created by nature or man-made I am consistently amazed at the landscapes that I have seen – from Iceland to New Zealand, so rarely have I been disappointed.

January 2017 a shiny new year but the same black tennies that I started with.  To India we go.  Seventeen days in India – hmmmm.  In retrospect perhaps a few too many!  And the shoes walked on all sorts of indescribable crap that is all over the streets of ANY city or village in India.  When you have over one billion people garbage management is a problem.  Apparently.  But there are stunning temples, forts and castles all over Rajasthan – a pleasure to experience and walk through.  I need to publish something on India – it was a unique experience!  But after India – whoa the shoes were getting kind of yucky…  I washed pretty much everything once I got to Bangkok.  I considered washing the shoes – but figured that may not work out so well.  Thailand was hot and humid and the shoes were retired for flip-flops and the beach.  And intestinal challenges which we won’t detail here (you can take the girl out of India, but you can’t take India out of the girl – argh).  After relaxing on the white sands and swimming in the azure Andaman Sea – it was on to Australia.

 

Perth had a quaint walking mall with several outdoor and athletic shoe stores – – it was time.  I think the black tennies knew that this was their last rodeo – they looked kind of droopy and felt like they no longer had much form – feet were kind of slipping around – yes, it was the end of the line.  I agonized over which shoes to go with – hiking outdoorsy ones or regular tennis shoes.  The tennis shoes won – so now I have day-glo Nike tennis shoes (hey, I’m from the Midwest – we always called them tennis shoes, sneakers is such an odd moniker).  I can wear them without any kind of insert – (so far) – and they are light and airy – what a thrill to get a new pair of walkabout shoes!  Just in time to tackle the outback and the tropics of Queensland!  You people may not understand just how exciting this is – I NEVER get new clothes or shoes – and for a hardcore shopper it’s been like going through withdrawal symptoms or something, these last six months.

So where am I at after six months on the road?  Besides having a new pair of shoes you mean?  That is the question – and the answer may not be as complex as you’d think.  I am the same person – albeit more relaxed and certainly more tan than when I started!  I’m not sure there have been any internal revelations about myself, short of the reinforcement of what I already knew.  I like to be outdoors, to walk all over and see beautiful sights – mountains, woods, streams, beaches, wild animals, city skylines.  I love history and museums, and amazing architecture.  Really when you get right down to it – I love to be continually learning about new things.  Have I had blinding flashes of insight that dramatically changed me?  I don’t think so.  Do I know what I’m going to do after this walkabout?  Nope.  Not a clue.  And coming to terms with that may require another six months on the road.

I’ve been in 30 different countries now (at press time that is 33), and while the faces and landscapes may change people are inherently the same the world over.  They want to live their lives, go to work, have a home, worship their God, enjoy their local watering hole and share their heritage and their history with other people.  I believe we could go a long way towards allaying misconceptions about foreigners by requiring American students to travel abroad for some portion of their education (let’s spend our federal budget dollars on something intelligent for once!).

To see how other people live and to experience other cultures is a mind broadening experience – they are not so different from us.  They may look different, dress different, speak a different language, have different politics and eat different foods, but they are just like us in their desires for a happy and peaceful life.  In fact, in many countries I’ve seen abject poverty but the people were cheerful and smiling and still invited us in to their homes.  I sometimes think Americans are preoccupied with what we don’t have – and if we alter that perception a tiny bit, people realize just how incredibly lucky they are to have all that they do.